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SOUVENIR EDITION. 


India’s Message 

... to America. 


VIRCHAND R. GANDHI, B. A., 
Bombay, India. 


Published by 

W. W. HICKS, 216 East 70th Street, 
New York City. 





























. 






PRESS OF 


WILLIAM L. DOWNS, 
103 7 THIRD AVE. 


NEW YORK . 






























t 















. 


» 


N 







♦ 




I 




t 

































» 







India’s Message to America 

AND OTHER ADDRESSES 


Delivered under the auspices of the Cassadaga Lake 
Free Association, Lily Dale, N. Y, at the 
Sunwier Meeting, 1894, 

• 

By VIRCHAND R. GANDHI, B. A., 

%t 

Bombay, India, 


Honorary Secretary and Representative at the World's 
Parliament of Religions, of the Jains 
Community, Lndia, 








WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

W. W. HICKS. 


COPYRIGHT 1894. 


published BY 

W. W. HICKS, 216 EAST 70TH STREET, 
NEW YORK. 

1894. 


to 


A 




INDIA’S MESSAGE TO AMERICA 
Delivered August n, 1894. 


II. 

IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA,. 
Delivered August 12, 1894. 


III. 

SOME MISTAKES CORRECTED. 
Delivered August 19, 1894. 





INTRODUCTION. 


Virchand R. Gandhi was bom thirty years ago (August 
25th 1864) at the town of Mahuva, Bombay Presidency, 
India. He received careful home instruction, and 
attended the Hindoo schools of his native place until 
he was seventeen years old. At t 7 he entered the 
University of Bombay. Here he pursued his studies 
with great diligence and at 20 was graduated receiving 
the degree of B. A. 

Leaving the University proper, Mr. Gandhi devoted 
himself to the study of law, and in due time was 
admitted to practice and soon attained distinction, not 
alone in Bombay, but in Calcutta and other prominent 
cities of India. 

Mr. Gandhi is a member of the community of the 
Jains, which is the strictest and most spiritual of the 
religious communities of India, and w r as a Protestant 
community against Brahminical tyranny with defined 
purposes and methods, when Buddhism arose with 
kindred aims, 600 years B. C. 

Mr. Gandhi appeared at the World’s Parliament of 
Religions, the duly accredited delegate of the Jains 
community, and the personal deputy or representative of 
their chief Monk, Muni Atmaranji, in whose name he 
addressed the great parliament. A number of distin- 



IV 


Introduction. 


guished Hindoo scholars, philosophers and religious 
teachers, attended and addressed the parliament, some 
of them taking rank with the highest of any race for 
learning, eloquence and piety, but it is safe to say that 
no one of the Oriental philosophers was listened to with 
greater interest than was this young layman of the Jains 
Community as he declared the “ Ethics and Philosophy” 
of his people. Mr. Gandhi is not only well versed in the 
literature of his native country, but is also familiar with 
Universal history ; is a student of the classics of Greece 
and Rome, and is an exceptionally good English scholar. 

He has already acquired distinction as an author, both 
in English and in Guzerati, his native tongue. His 
recent translation from the French of “The Unknown 
Life of Jesus Christ,” from an ancient manuscript dis¬ 
covered in a Buddhist monastery in Thibet by Nicholas 
Notovitch, together with an elaborate introduction in 
defence of the genuineness of the manuscript, is well 
known to American scholars, and has awakened great 
interest. 

Mr. Gandhi's mission to our country did not end with 
his official utterance before the Parliament of Religions, 
but by the desire of his people and at their expense, his 
stay has been indefinitely prolonged for the express 
purpose of studying our government and institutions, 



Introduction. 


v 


and as occasion may offer, to inform our people by 
speech and pen, concerning India, its civilization, its 
philosophies, its religions, and the home life of its 
people, particularly of the community—numbering about 
5,000,000, which he especially represents—the commu¬ 
nity of the Jains. 

The Jains, as a religious body, although not as nume¬ 
rous as some others, occupy in some respects the very 
highest position in India. 

The wealth of India is largely found among the mem¬ 
bers of this community, and a large proportion of the 
business of the entire country passes through their hands, 
thus showing not alone leadership in intelligence, but 
also in business and general progress. 

The Jains are also noted for fidelity to their religious 
principles and lead all others in works of benevolence; 
are advocates and patrons of liberal education, and 
extend their charities and humanities toward all the lower 
creatures, extending even to plant life. They have 
founded, and are maintaining, hospitals for sick and 
enfeebled animals—recognizing them as creatures of God 
—dwelling on a lower plane, but possessed of the same 
essence of life with man, and entitled to the rights and 
protections of common brotherhood. The Jain vow not 
to destroy life, applies with equal force to animals and 




vi 


Introduction. 


man. No Jain has ever been a butcher and no true 
Jain has ever partaken of animal food. 

Until comparatively recent years Western scholars 
held to the opinion that the Jains were but an offshoot 
from ora sect of Buddhism, but it is now well understood 
that while there are many points of contact and resem¬ 
blance between Jainism and Buddhism, the former ante¬ 
dates the latter in point of time, and has outlived it in 
India because of reasons inherent in its philosophy, its 
religious tenets, and its more practical exemplification of 
life. r l he vows of the Buddhist and the Jainist Ascetic 
are much alike and are doubtless of Brahmanic origin. 

THE FIVE GREAT VOWS OF THE JAINS. 

1. I renounce all killing of human beings, whether 
subtle or gross, whether movable or immovable. Nor 
shall I myself kill living beings (nor cause others to do 
it). As long as I live, I confess and blame, repent and 
exempt myself of these sins, in the thrice threefold way, 
in mind, speech and body. 

2. I renounce all vices of lying speech (arising) from 
anger or greed or fear or mirth. I shall neither myself 
speak lies, nor cause others to speak lies Nor consent 
to the speaking of lies by others. I confess and blame, 
repent and. exempt myself of these sins, in the thricefold 
way, in mind, speech and body. 

3. I renounce all taking of am thing not given, either 
in a village or a town or a wood, either of little or much, 



Introduction. 


vii 


of small or great, of living or lifeless things. I shall 
neither take myself what is not given, nor cause others 
to take it, nor consent to their taking it. « As long as I 
live, &c., &c., as in previous vows. 

4. I renounce all sexual pleasures, either with gods or 
men or animals. I shall not give way to sensuality, &c. 
The five comments or “clauses’’ attached to this vow 
are here given topically : 

1. Topics relating to women (in the sexual relations) 
not to be discussed. 

2. The physical forms of women not to be contem¬ 
plated. 

3. Former pleasures and relations with women should 
not be recalled. 

4. Careful diet exacted and abstinence from liquors 
and highly seasoned food. 

5. A bed or couch accepted for sleep should not 
belong to a woman, nor be in close proximity to that 
occupied by women. 

5. I renounce all attachments (pleasure in external 
objects) whether little or much, small or great, living or 
lifeless; neither shall I myself form such attachments, 
nor cause others to do so, nor consent to them doing 
so, &c.* 

The above vows are taken by the monks and nuns who 
are the religious teachers of the Jains. Laymen also take 


*For entire text and comment, tlie reader should consult "Sacred 
Books of the East,” vol. xxii.—Gaina Sutras. Translated by H. Jacobi. 
Max Muller, Editor. 




viii 


Introduction. 


vows of many kinds for periods or for life, vows which 
are believed to conduce to purity of life, morality of 
conduct, liberality, brotherly kindness and spiritual 
growth. The Jains do not recognize the sacred authority 
of the Vedas, and do not hold themselves to be amenable 
to the laws of caste, and deny the worship of Idols. 
They believe in the taansmigration of souls, a re-embodi¬ 
ment, but predicate its necessity upon present conduct 
under the laws of Karma, but they teach the possibility 
for each person of fulfilling that law in this stage of exis¬ 
tence by practicing the moral and physical austerities 
and the religious devotions, and so pass into the state of 
perfect bliss from which there is no return. 

The practical creed of the Jains may be summed up 
in these words: Right Knowledge, right Faith, right 
conduct, and on these hang all “the law and the 
prophets.” 

In determining what is right knowledge the Jain 
prophets and books are particular and luminous, subtle 
and profound, and differ widely from the Brahman and 
the Buddhist philosophers and cult. 

Right knowledge, they (Jains) say, is five-featured. 

1. The right perception. (Mati.) 

2. Simple (pure) knowledge based on and limited by 
the perception. (Semta.) 



Introduction. 


ix 


3. Other knowledge, from sources without and beyond, 
which may be injected or imported by spiritual (super 
mundam) powers. (Avadhi.) 

4. The knowledge of the thoughts of others, the power 
to enter into and utilize the thoughts of other minds. 
( Manahparyaya.) 

5. Highest knowledge and power of knowing, omi- 
niscience. (Kevala.) 

This is the wisdom of the perfected ones*—the state of 
liberation, the virvana of purification and conservation in 
this life. (Givanmukti.) 

“When the Venerable One (Mahavi/a, the great 
prophet of the Jains) had become an Arhat and Gina, he 
was a Kevalin, omniscient and comprehending all 
objects, he knew all conditions of the world, of, gods, 
men and demons; whence they come, where they go, 
whether they are born as men or animals (kyavana), or 
become gods or hell beings (upapada); their food, 
drink, doings, desires, open and secret deeds, their con¬ 
versation and gossip, and the thoughts of their minds ; 
he saw and knew all conditions in the whole world of 
all living beings.”* 

The following addresses were delivered by Mr. Gandhi 
during the month of August of this year under the 
auspices of 

THE CASSADAGA LAKE FREE ASSOCIATION 

at their widely known rural Summer University at Lily 
Dale, New York. 


*AkaraugaSutra, Bk 11, Lee. 15. 




X 


Introduction. 


The distinguished Hindoo scholar could not have been 
more worthily presented to the American people, and no 
place so appropriate for the utterance of his interesting 
and remarkable message could be named. 

To this beautiful retreat hundreds of the most advanced 
thinkers, representing all schools of philosophy and 
thought, but dominated by the Spiritual philosophy, flock 
annually from all parts of the Union and from Canada, 
whilfe” thousands of inquirers, students and good citizens 
from nearby States and communities, make up the great 
audiences that are attracted by the programme of instruc¬ 
tion and entertainment, or by the natural beauties of the 
place—or both. In the vast audiences that listened to 
these addresses were intelligent representatives of twenty 
States of this Union and from parts of Canada, including 
jurists, statesmen, ministers of the gospel, philosophers, 
editors, leaders and workers in all fields of usefulness and 
reform, of both sexes. The greeting which this great 
harmonious gathering (although representing much diver¬ 
sity of though and opinion), gave to our “heathen 
brother,” was inspiring and prophetic to see—a scene 
possible only in such a place, under such auspices, and 
never to be forgotten by those who were present. 

During his stay at Cassadaga, Mr. Gandhi was the 
centre of much interest, and all possible respect was 








Introduction. 


xi 


shown to him, not alone because he was accepted as a 
fraternal messenger from India, but on his own account, 
for his gentleness of deportment towards all was as 
impressive and beautiful in the social gatherings as his 
spirit and words were captivating and convincing from 
the platform. 

Hundreds of eager students attended his private 
lectures upon the different schools of philosophy of the 
Orient, and his frequent conversations upon the home 
life of his people.* 

The addresses now presented are worthy of wide 
consideration and acceptance. Certain statements, 
directly opposed to popular opinions respecting the civ¬ 
ilization and religion of the Hindoos, will, doubtless, 
awaken discussion, and probably provoke denial. But it 
is always worth while to know the truth, and to know it, 
if possible, from those who are most affected by its 
denial. And Mr. Gandhi is well able to defend the 
appeal and thesis of his brethern, whose spokesman he 
is. In the meantime all must admire and commend the 


* Before leaving Cassadaga, and on the 30th anniversary of his birth, 
Mr. Gandhi was presented with a beautiful souvenir in the name of 
“The National Association of Spiritualists,” in a very felicitous address by 
President H. D. Barrett. The souvenir was of wrought gold appropriately 
inscribed—representing in perfect symbolism the union of the Orient and 
the Occident, from an original design by Prof. A, C. C. Pfuhl. 




Introduction. 


xii 


spirit of gentleness and brotherhood pervading these 
addresses—a spirit which is supposed to have home¬ 
stead authority on the Christian heart, but which, alas ! 
is too often ignored by the Christian dogmatists. 

Oct. 5 , 1894 . VV. W. Hicks. 

216 East 70th Street, 

New York City. 







mi 


Y brothers and sisters of America : I greet you 
in the name of India and her three hundred mil- 
lions of sons and daughters. I recognize in you 
my brothers and sisters, from whom I seem to have 
travelled away, ages ago, to visit the Orient, and now I 
return .to you with a message from that country—a mes¬ 
sage of peace, of love, of universal brotherhood and 
therefore of universal fellowship. I stand before you on 
a common level, not on the relationship of master and 
servant nor of the conqueror and the conquered. I hail 
you, my brothers and sisters, with all my heart and with 
all my soul, and while I stand before you with that feel¬ 
ing, I represent not myself alone, but the voiceless mil¬ 
lions of India. I come to you at your invitation and at 
your courtesy. It is the first time in the history of na¬ 
tions that this vast country, the American country, sent a 
cordial invitation to the farthest country, India, on the 
other side of the globe. It is a crown of glory in the 





2 


Indict's Message to America. 


history of this new nation, the nation so progressive, so 
intellectual, so tolerant. It is an honor to India to par¬ 
take of the festive board, the intellectual, the religious, 
the philosophical board which you have spread for her 
entertainment. You did invite us, not because you are 
kings and emperors who have authority to command us, 
but you bid us as brothers of the same family and as 
progenitors of the civilization which you now enjoy. 
It is a commemoration of the completion, so to speak, 
of one cycle of life, a picture of the beginning and the 
end, the Alpha and the Omega, because the first repre¬ 
sentative ofirace is invited to commune with the last and 
best in opportunities of races. That this new American 
nation, the youngest child in the history of nations has 
wisely and hospitably invited the aged and well-preserved 
nation from the farthest country to the entertainment, is 
without precedent in the history of the world. 

It is a pleasing thought to my country that she finds 
parellels of epochs or stages in the development of hu¬ 
man lives and races. While you Americans tell of your 
Washington, who was “ first in peace, first in war, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen,” so we, also, have 
our Washington, who many centuries ago embalmed 
himself in the institutions of my country. No greater 
man than King Ashoka has ever reigned in India and no 





India's Message to America. 


3 


succeeding monarch has equalled his glory. He was in¬ 
spired by a liberal and catholic spirit in his internal ad¬ 
ministration and in his foreign policy, and the profound 
love of truth and the desire to spread the truth, have 
made his name a household word from Siberia to 
Ceylon. 

You have had your Abraham Lincoln, who was the 
regenerator of your country, a second Washington. We 
had also our Abraham Lincoln, the victor of a great and 
patriotic war, the patron of reviving Hindooism, the cen¬ 
ter of all that is best and most beautiful in modern San¬ 
skrit literature, and the subject of a hundred legends. 
Vikrama the Great, is to^the Hindoo what Charlemagne 
is to the French, what Albert is to the English, and what 
Harun-Er-Rashid is to the Mohammedan. To the 
learned as to the illiterate, to the poet as to the story¬ 
teller, to the old man as to the school-boy, his name is 
as familiar in India as the name of any prince or poten¬ 
tate or mighty leader in any country. Tender recollec¬ 
tions of Shakuntala and Urvashi rise in the minds of 
Hindoo scholars with the name of that prince in whose 
court Kalidasa flourished. Hindoo astronomers cherish 
the memory of that great patron of Varaha-Mihira, and 
Hindoo lexicographers honor the name of the potentate 
who honored Amara-Sinha, and, as if the true claims of 



4 


India's Message to America. 


glory were not enough, a hundred tales familiarize his 
name to the illiterate and simple, so that in this sense 
history does repeat itself and teaches that after all, na¬ 
tions are preserved, regenerated and liberated to higher 
planes of realization, achievement and prosperity in ma¬ 
terial and spiritual things, by human embodiments of 
those divine forces which are universal, and which, when 
rightly understood, are answerable for human destinies. 
You Americans are living in the realization of the ancient 
dreams of the philosophers of India and the East. The 
means of growth and human uplifting are great here. 
Our prophets and philosophers of the East have laid the 
foundations of them and it is now for you to build on 
those foundations. This is the message of India, which 
she delivers to you and through you to the whole Ameri¬ 
can nation. With this message, also, come more than 
simple greeting and recognition. The young American 
nation is in a condition to rightly appreciate the treasures 
of the ancient lore and sublime philosophy of India and 
the Orient, because, intellectually considered, this is vir¬ 
gin soil, and with the message which I bring to America 
comes also the fraternal invitation to you to study and 
understand this philosophy.—The key to the archives of 
our ancient history and lore is placed, in confidence, in 
your lap, and you are invited to unlock for yourselves. 




India?s Message to America. 


5 


with our permission and co-operation, this vast store¬ 
house which contains the treasures of our ancient phil¬ 
osophy and achievements. Why? because you are 
young; because you are studious, unbiased, free—and 
these are the conditions which answer for receptivity. 

Certain of your missionaries have informed you wrongly 
of our history and condition, of our moral stature and of 
our religion. It is because they have studied us from the 
outside, and with eyes blinded by prejudice, the result of 
limited view of the universal cult, the universal law of 
brotherhood and love. We attribute these wrong im¬ 
pressions and wrong conjectures not to spite, malice or 
evil purpose, but to ignorance, to a lack of knowledge, 
which a larger plane of universal brotherhood will cause 
to disappear. When missionaries who are sent from 
this continent to our country and to our people shall * 
learn that we are children of the same family, that we in¬ 
herit the same perceptions, the same rights, the same in¬ 
spirations and the same relations to the Infinite, and 
when they seek to fraternize with us on that plane and 
with this recognition—then, and then only, antagonism 
and injustice will cease and the bonds of common brother¬ 
hood will unite us in a mutual recognition of reasons for 
a perfect fellowship. You can bring us no new revela¬ 
tion, but you can recognize in us the old and everlasting 




6 


India 1 s Message to America. 


truth which is the common birthright of all souls, which 
is only new to you because you are the latest born. If, 
in the freshness and innocence of your zeal and limited 
knowledge of us, you conceive us to be idolators, bowing 
down to stone and metal gods made by our own hands, 
it is because you have as yet failed to grasp our concep¬ 
tion of the simple and natural aids to faith, to contem¬ 
plation, to apprehension and to duty, through which all 
souls must climb, as up the eternal stair of progress, 
from height to height, from lowest conditions through 
all grades to regeneration and liberation, and up to the 
perfect state. But despite all this, to you we confidently 
look for that recognition of truth in us which shall lead 
to the universal fellowship which the law of univeral 
brotherhood implies. i 

We come gladly, at your invitation, for another reason. 
You are the most tolerant and liberal nation in the West¬ 
ern world, and tolerance is the first article in the faith of 
every Hindoo, Buddhist or Jainist. No man can point 
to any instance in the history of my people where any 
man was ever persecuted for religious opinion’s sake. 
Our very language does not contain an equivalent word 
for the English word “persecution.’’ We have words in 
our language in the ancient Sanskrit, that cover the whole 
ground of justice, of purity, of goodness, of love and of 




India? s Message to America. 


7 


all the sweet beatitudes of the soul’s attainment, but not 
one word that means malice, persecution or tyranny for 
religious opinion’s sake. 

It may be objected to this statement of mine, which 
objection may be founded on statements of distinguished 
ecclesiastics, such as Bishop Caldwell, who has lived in 
India for many years, that the Hindoos worship gods of 
destruction, but acquaintance with us will prove that we 
do not worship gods in the sense conveyed, but they 
represent to us ideas of retribution and penalty and de¬ 
struction for the wrongdoing and misdoing of man, and 
we seek to appease wrath and propitiate justice by ap¬ 
proaching the methods of a holy life. This same Bishop 
says : “ The people of India worship as gods, Vishnu, 
Shiva, Krishna and various similar gods. The very names 
of these divinities are unknown in any other country— 
Shiva, Vishnu and the rest of the Hindoo divinities are 
worshipped as gods by the people of India alone. If 
they were really gods, they would certainly be gracious 
to the people of India. They would certainly give proof 
of it by abasing the white men, who do not worship them, 
and by exalting their worshipers ; they would bestow on 
the Hindoo unbounded wisdom, power and prosperity, 
and would probably give to them the government of the 
rest of mankind. How widely different is the condition 



India 1 s Message to America. 


8 


of the Hindoos, the supreme government of every part 
of India is in the hands of Christians.” 

This is the sheet anchor of the argument of Christian 
superiority in India. But that is an old, old argument. 
The Mohammedans, for 800 years, have presented the 
same argument with the sword in one hand and the Ko¬ 
ran in the other. Where are they to-day? Echo answers, 
where? Every person has his day. This is the Chris¬ 
tian’s day, and he is producing the same argument at the 
point of the bayonet. The so called disciples of the 
Bible believe in “ power” as the supreme manifestation 
and demonstration of the truth. So do we, but we go 
one step further and are declaring and have declared for 
thousands of years to the world that power, indeed, is 
the test of truth, but goodness is the highest power in 
the world. If it is powerful to do, it is a hundred times 
more powerful to suffer. Outpourings of cruel savages 
over the land of Bharata, and “ civilized ” scourges of the 
human race have been let loose upon the plains of beau¬ 
tiful India over and over again, but, like meteors coming 
out of eternal darkness, flashing for a moment across her 
horizon of view and plunging back into darkness, all 
these oppressors and tyrants, with all their claims of truth 
and power to subdue, civilize and christianize, must, in 
the long run, melt like morning mist on the river and the 



India's Message to America. 


9 


Hindoo will live on, firm in his faith that goodness is the 
highest power in the world and not oppression. 

I concede, my brothers and sisters, that in India, as 
elsewhere, men may combine together for wrongdoing, 
and have done so, but when they did so it was in con¬ 
travention of the sacred truths, ignorantly interpreted 
and ignorantly applied, and not in accordance with the 
dogma of religion nor the inspiration of philosophy or 
civilization. Under the highest forms of the Christian 
religion, you will bear me witness, these things also have 
been done, but do we hold Christianity rightly respon¬ 
sible for the cruelty, injustice and wrong? Some may, 
but we do not. No more can you hold our philosophy 
and our religion responsible for abnormal conceptions 
and perpetrations. 

You know, my brothers and sisters, that we are not an 
independent nation, we are subjects of her Gracious Ma¬ 
jesty, Queen Victoria, the “ defender of the faith,” but if 
we were a nation -in all that that name implies, with our 
own government and our own rulers, with our laws and 
institutions controlled by us, free and independent, I af¬ 
firm that we should seek to establish and forever main¬ 
tain peaceful relations with all the nations of the world. 
We \yould seek neither to lessen your dignity nor to en¬ 
croach'upon your rights or domain, and we would ask for 



10 


India's Message to America. 


that recognition in the family of nations which you al¬ 
ready concede to us in the family of man. The Sanskrit 
poet says : “ This is my country, that is your country, 
these are the conceptions of narrow souls : to the liberal- 
'minded the whole world is a family.” 

For your inventions, and for whatever is just in your 
methods of industry, for whatever is humane and wise in 
your forms of education, and for whatever is pure and use¬ 
ful in your government and in your civilization, we would 
offer you in exchange the sublime teachings of our pro¬ 
phets and our poets, and for all the people cordial fra¬ 
ternity and perfect reciprocity. 

I have heard your orators speak on many questions, 
among them the so-called vital question of money, which 
is above all things the most coveted commodity, but I, 
as a Hindoo, as a Jainist, in the name of my countrymen 
and of my country, would offer you as the medium of the 
most perfect exchange between us, henceforth and for¬ 
ever, the indestructible, the unchangeable, the universal 
currency of good will and peace, and this, my brothers 
and sisters, is a currency that is not interchangeable with 
silver and gold, it is a currency of the heart, of the good 
life, of the highest estate on the earth, and it is the cur¬ 
rency of heaven. The civilization whose highest badge 
is the perishable symbol of corruption and greed, silver 



India's Message to America. 


ii 


and gold, is not to be compared to that civilization whose 
highest symbol is the image of peace, and whose highest 
expression is good-will towards man and all living beings. 
Our Jain poet says : “Spirit of peace and perfect bliss, 
devoid of impure and destructive parts, Glory be to 
Thee.” 

Because of these principles and doctrines underlying 
our lives as a people, from the earliest ages, we have been 
the victims of misgovernment and tyranny through op¬ 
pression, from the first Persian invasion to the latest 
Christian invasion and conquest, but through it all we 
have borne ourselves with a patience, a patience of hope 
without a parellel in history, firmly adhering to our an¬ 
cient faith, believing that in the end goodness will tri¬ 
umph over all oppression, all tyranny, for it is an axiom 
with us that goodness is the highest power and will even¬ 
tually prevail. Here, you may say, that such is not the 
history of India. I will, therefore, confirm my own state - 
ment by that of one of the greatest Oriental scholars in 
Europe, Prof. Max Muller : 

“I confess it has always seemed to me one of the sad¬ 
dest chapters in the history of the world to see the early 
inhabitants of India, who knew nothing of the rest of the 
world, of the mighty empires of Egypt and Babylon, of 
their wars and conquests, who wanted nothing from the 



12 


India's Message to America. 


outside world and were happy and content in their own 
earthly paradise, protected as it seemed by the mountain 
ramparts in the north and watched on every other side by 
the jealous waves of the Indian Ocean to see these happy 
people suddenly overrun by foreign warriors, whether 
Persians, Greeks or Macedonians, or at a later time, 
Scythians, Mohammedans, Mongolians and Christians, 
and conquered for no fault of theirs, except that they had 
neglected to cultivate the art of killing their neighbors. 
They themselves never wished for conquests, they simply 
wished to be left alone and to be allowed to work out 
their views of life which was contemplative and joyful, 
though deficient in one point, namely, the art of self-de¬ 
fence and destruction. They had no idea that a tempest 
could break upon them and when the black clouds came 
suddenly driving through the northern and western 
mountain-passes, they had no shelter, they were simply 
borne down by superior brute force. They remind us of 
Archimedes imploring the cruel invader not to disturb 
his philosophical circles, but there was no help for them. 
That ideal of human life which they had pictured to 
themselves and which to a certain extent they seemed to 
have realized before they were discovered and disturbed 
by the ‘outer barbarians/ had to be surrendered. It was 
not to be. The whole world was to be a fighting and a 



India 1 s Message to America. 


13 


huckstering world, and even the solution of the highest 
problems of religion and philosophy was in future to be 
determined, not by sweet reasonableness, but by the big¬ 
gest battalions. We must all learn that lesson, but even 
to the hardened historian it is a sad lesson to learn.” 

Such has been the case of the people of India from 
earliest times. Our physical resistance in every instance 
has been spasmodic under the goadings of injustice, for 
the reason that in our philosophy and religion there is 
no curriculum nor science of war, only the holy breath¬ 
ings of lessons and principles that make for peace and 
brotherhood. Cruelty and reprisals have been charged 
upon us, which charge we do not fully deny, since the 
worm will turn under the remorseless tread of the ruth¬ 
less invader; but even in the paroxysm of such madness, 
overborne by greater power and cruelty and in the ago¬ 
nies of undeserved death and extermination, we still 
clung to the prayer of our holy faith, “ We forgive all 
living beings. We ask all living beings to forgive us.” 

To my American Christian brothers and sisters who 
are before me and’ through them to the whole of Chris- 
tendam, I have to say a few words : 

I have learned since coming to this country that the 
great shibboleth of the host of Christendom is, “The 
whole world for Christ.” What is that? What do you 



*4 


India's Message to America. 


mean? Who is that Christ in whose name you propose 
to conquer the world ? Is there a Christ ol oppression ? 
Is there a Christ of injustice? Is there a Christ of misin¬ 
terpretation? Is there a Christ of denial of all rights? Is 
there a Christ of destruction of all holy aims and hu¬ 
mane immemorial institutions ? Is there a Christ of un • 
just and exorbitant taxation for the support of a govern¬ 
ment, foreign to our knowledge, our thought, our religion 
and our consent? Who of these Christs has inscribed his 
name on the banner of your conquests? If you seek to 
conquor us under such banners and in the name of such 
Christs, we refuse to be conquered. But, if you come to 
us in the name and spirit of the Christ of Education, of 
Brotherhood, of universal love, or in the name of that 
Christ, who, in the valley of the Ganges and on the 
shores of the sea of Tiberius, more than 1800 years ago, 
taught and said : “ A new commandment give I unto 
you, that ye love one anotherthen I say, we will wel¬ 
come you, for Him we know and of Him we are not 
afraid. But all this must be understood in the full free¬ 
dom of it. We cannot recognize a creedal Christ, a 
limited Christ, an emasculated truth, whether it is viewed 
from an educational or from a moral and spiritual point 
of view, but the universal idea, withour limit, without 
fetters—free. 



India?s Message to America . 


15 


I have learned since here in this country why it is that 
in my own country different missionaries and Christian 
teachers antagonize one another. It is because the dis¬ 
ciples are no better than their masters; because I find in 
this country many Christianities and the multiplied dis¬ 
agreements amounting to mutual oppression and excom¬ 
munication, teach me that, either there be many Christs 
or that the one Christ is dismembered and torn, and di¬ 
vided up among many factions, who in quarelling over 
their several possessions accomplish nothing but the de¬ 
struction of the real truth. 

We heathens of India recognize the many-sidedness of 
truth, and are divided into schools of philosophy and 
truth for the promulgation of truth as we see it, but 
nevertheless we are united very deep in one thought, one 
conception, one adoration and one worship of the true 
and only infinite source of perfection, the Christ of all 
humanity. From this point of view he may be called 
Bramah, Vishnu, Shiva, Buddha, Jina, or the Christ of 
Nazareth, we have no objections, but in the deep and 
true appreciation of Him, these names must signify one 
life, one source, one manifestation and one universal ex¬ 
pression of love. The Jain poet says: “ I praise him 
who has destroyed the seeds of physical death and birth, 
be he Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva or Jina.” These prayers 



i6 


India's Message to America. 


were composed before the birth of Jesus or of Buddha— 
had they lived before their composition, their names 
would have been added. 

I have borrowed from the Christian scriptures what 
was spoken by the mouth of Jesus and is called a “ new 
commandment,” but in truth it is an old, old command¬ 
ment, which in the beginning came from the lips and lov¬ 
ing natures of our great prophets and teachers, and is not 
new to us, and is, therefore, easily recognized. When the 
old and the new truth are appreciated and conformed 
to, then will come to pass that vision of the ancient 
prophets and seers, in the daily opportunities and 
methods of man, the principle in the active work of what 
you call “ co-operation,” which is the first proof of 
brotherhood. From this point also we may truly study 
and certainly obtain some knowledge of that condition 
of perfect bliss for which we yearn, and the conditions of 
which in the lessons I have tried to express are founded, 
and this for all souls and forever. 

On this ground also, we stand to learn and to know 
the purpose and the methods of true worship. That 
worship is not to a person a mere existence who may be 
conceived as a supreme being only, but it extends to all 
holy, worthy, pure and perfected ones, who by this 
method have attained a perfect state and who by their 



India 1 s Message to America. 




example and virtues and the achievements of their aust¬ 
erities and devotions have made the way for us simple 
and sweet. We, the Jainists of India, say every day in 
our prayer: “I worship all perfected souls ; I worship all 
spiritual mastersI worship all spiritual instructors; I 
worship all holy men and women in the world.” You 
will say my Christian brothers and sisters, that this act 
of homage and worship should be directed to the Su¬ 
preme being only, whom you call God ; but you also 
worship the name of Christ, and who is he if he be not a 
manifestation and accommodation of some element, es¬ 
pecially—Love, that is the worshipful in the divine being. 
And in the recognition and devout worship of that same 
manifestation which is the cause of our conquest and of 
all perfected lives, do not we bring ourselves into closer 
relations, and is not, therefore, our worship truer and 
worthier to be accepted. And this also is the universal 
worship, the tribute that all life makes in spontaneous 
gratitude and devotion to the Infinite. In this act of 
worship we are in fellowship with all living things and 
with all living beings. This worship may have no voice, 
no particular ceremony and no outward expression cog¬ 
nizable to the senses, but it must be and it is, the pros¬ 
tration of the soul before the Supreme in adoration, and 
in the conformity of love, the lesson of life. In all nature, 



India? s Message io America. 


animate and inanimate, of all grades and forms and ex¬ 
pressions, from the spire of grass protecting the lowly 
violet in the vale, to the songs of birds which rise on 
graceful wings in the pulsing atmosphere, whose pulsa¬ 
tions are notes of worship, to the stately forest, bending 
under the pressure and expanding in the light of nature’s 
growth, up to th$ vaulted heavens, “ singing as they 
shine, the hand that made us is divine,” and still up into 
the higher sentient life, the souls of men, and still up to 
the perfect life—-to the dwellers and realizers of the per¬ 
fect bliss—through all the same spirit inspires and leads, 
and makes the worship one. 

This is the true idea of Hindoo worship. How do you 
like it? Does it not touch the cord of sympathy and ac¬ 
ceptance in your heart? My American brothers and sis¬ 
ters, it is not a propagandism that I speak of, but a 
spirit, a universal spirit of love and power and answer- 
able for the practical realization of brotherhood, the 
brotherhood not only of men, but of all living things, 
which by the prophets of all nations is indeed taught, but 
which by the practice of the world is yet ignored. 

This is the message of India to America. I have de¬ 
livered it, conscious of my own weakness and inability to 
do justice to the spirit in which it was sent, and grate^ 
fully conscious also of that charity and brotherly love 



India's Message to America. 


1 9 


characteristic of your nation, in which it will be received. 

I will now conclude with a prayer, which in India, we 
daily offer : 

“ May peace rule the universe \ may peace rule in 
kingdoms and empires ; may peace rule in states and in 
the lands of the potentates ; may peace rule in the house 
'of friends and may peace also rule in the hoiise of 
enemies.” 











1 WTY brothers and sisters of* America: By your indub 
i gence and brotherly kindness, I have been per¬ 
mitted to deliver to you the message which I was com¬ 
missioned to bear from my people in India to you, and it 
has been received in the spirit in which I endeavored to 
present it. For this not unexpected reception, but none 
the less therefore grateful to me, I do not find words at 
my command to express my gratitude. 

My subject to-day may be properly called “ Impres¬ 
sions that I have received during my sojourn in this 
country,” the impressions of various characters which 
may or may not be correct. 

In presenting these impressions I shall not be able to 
do so in as connected and perfect a manner as more 
mature consideration would enable me to do, therefore, 
you will be prepared to overlook what may appear to be 
a desultory or fragmentary discourse. I deem it my duty 
and feel under obligations to give utterance to the im¬ 
pressions which I have received, but I must beg you, my 




Impressions of .A meric a . 


21 


brothers and sisters, to acquit me in the very beginning, 
of approaching this subject in any particular, in the spirit 
of criticism. It might seem to be the most politic and 
the politest thing to do, to refrain from uttering an opin¬ 
ion that might be construed adverse in any direction, and 
to give my impressions only of the delightful and plea- 
sureable things that have come under my notice. In the 
main this will be true in all I may have to say, for what 
I shall say will be said in sincerity, and because in the 
immaturity of my thought, I cannot do otherwise. 

My first impression concerns the hospitality of the 
American people. This is an impression that has grown 
with every day’s and with every hour’s acquaintance. I 
do not mean by this that what I have been permitted to 
say on all occasions, respecting the people of my own 
country, their philosophy and their religion, has met with 
unchallenged acceptance. What I mean to say and do 
say, is, that in every instance I have been received with 
perfect cordiality, and have been listened to with the 
friendliest attention. I came to America with liberal ex¬ 
pectations, and when I say (which I gladly do) that thus 
far my fondest expectations have been more than real¬ 
ized, I only state the truth in moderate terms; for this 
is true in America as in India, that back of all outward 
expressions of welcome, of tolerance and of reciprocity, 



22 


Impressions of America. 


there is the spirit which is larger and deeper, and pro¬ 
phetic of greater expressions than a short acquaintance 
can give. Whatever permanent lessons, favorable or un¬ 
favorable, I may carry away with me, I am sure that this 
impression will not be weakened, but deepened and 
heightened. What I have said refers to all portions of 
the country that I have visited, and to all classes of people 
that I have had the honor to meet, but it is due to you 
who are before me, the representatives of and believers 
in Spiritualism, dwelling temporarily in this beautiful 
Cassadaga, which I have heard called the “Mecca of 
Spiritualism in America,” that I should say, that the wel¬ 
come you have accorded me and the interest you have 
shown in my mission, and the attention you have given to 
my feeble words, intensify the impression that I have re¬ 
ferred to and touch my heart in a way I shall never for¬ 
get. It is impossible for me to put in words the perma¬ 
nent effect these delightful spiritual and intellectual 
communings will have upon me after I return to my 
native land—only this—I know it will be good and only 
good and that continually. When I shall speak to my 
family and my people of all this and then show them 
pictures of you until your faces shall become familiar to 
them, the bonds of sympathy that shall unite us will 



Impressions of America. 


23 


strengthen and strengthen, and vibrate in mutual and in 
increasing fellowship. 

The next thing that impresses me with peculiar sig¬ 
nificance is that system of popular education which you 
call the “common school.” Through the hospitable fa¬ 
cilities afforded on every hand, I have learned much of 
your great institutions of learning, universities, colleges, 
gymnasiums, schools of art, schools of music and of ap¬ 
plied science, and standing in the fresh morning of your 
national life, I have gazed upon these monuments of your 
intellectual progress and industry with wonder and amaze¬ 
ment and also with gratitude : but when I come to study 
that system of education, which is in a way, peculiar to 
your country, and which brings the school and the school¬ 
master to all the people, to the children of the humblest 
and the lowest on equal terms with the children of the 
wealthy and the proud, my admiration and my wonder 
yield to a sense of appreciation that I may call devout 
and religious. For, although I and my people in the 
narrow view of a mere sectarian, may be esteemed igno¬ 
rant, superstitious and idolatrous we^ the people of India, 
especially those who have been permitted to pass through 
the curriculum of education, hold to the doctrine that at 
the bottom of all progress and answerable for all happi¬ 
ness is universal education. Also, that this education 



24 


Impressions of America. 


must be free; also, that it must be necessary, that is, that 
it must include those lessons that pertain to physical 
life, its relations and perfections, as well as to the cultiva¬ 
tion of the intellectual faculties and the moralities of life. 
It is possible that what I now say for my own people on this 
subject will surprise a few of my hearers, but I am proud 
and honored to be able to say that this prime requisite of 
human progress, the education of the masses, is a doct¬ 
rine held and taught and enforced, and practiced by the 
Jain community to which I belong, from the very be¬ 
ginning, as is proved by our history, and without inter¬ 
ruption. In respect of my Hindoo people, other than 
Jains, including the Brahmans and the believers in the 
Vedas, candor requires that I should say that with the 
exception of particular schools for the education of Brah¬ 
mans only, this doctrine has not obtained since the in¬ 
novation of priestly exclusiveness, which made the privi¬ 
lege of education the right of one class only. This ad¬ 
mission, which I freely make, ought not to weaken what 
I have said on this subject on behalf of the Jain com¬ 
munity. It was a member of the Jain community who 
contributed 400,000 rupees for the purpose of erecting a 
university building and the creation of a library in the 
same, in the city of Bombay • this same gentleman en¬ 
dowed the University of Calcutta for purposes of scholar- 



Impressions of America. 


25 


ship with 200,000 rupees. The munificence on the part 
of this same gentleman and many others of our com¬ 
munity, has established schools in different parts of our 
country for the education of girls as well as boys, which 
education is also free. It is the hope which has been 
bequeathed to us by our forefathers, and which is also a 
factor in our civilization, and it is our purpose also, to ex¬ 
tend the work of education with all of our abilities, with 
or without governmental aid, on that principle which is 
found in your Christian Scriptures, that “ a little leaven, 
leaveneth the whole lump.” Time must elapse before we 
shall realize the great consummation, but patience and 
perseverance, with the encouragement of all enlightened 
people, and especially of you, the liberal Americans, will 
eventually triumph. What I have learned of your great 
system of the education of the masses, which I admit 
cannot be very great or particular for the reason that my 
observations have been necessarily limited, is to me an 
encouragement beyond words to express, if my impres¬ 
sions are just and true. 

If my understanding of your institutions and your form 
of government is correct, and if I might be permitted to 
express an opinion, I would say that that education which 
is now offered to the people free, to be accepted or re¬ 
jected, must soon become compulsory, as a measure of 



26 


I?fipression$ of America* 


preservation of those very institutions. Of the different 
systems adopted by you, I may not speak with certainty* 
but the impressions which I have received concerning 
these methods, from the kindergarten to the university* 
are both pleasing and profitable in my thought. What 
lessons we, the people of India, may be able to receive 
from deeper acquaintance with you and your institutions* 
I may not even attempt to express or enumerate. I can 
only speak of the gratitude which I feel in the fact that 
it has been my privilege to examine, to learn and to wit¬ 
ness the effects of this system of education which you 
call free, “ common,” and which is so popular with you. 

The third impression to which I must refer concerns 
the vastness of your material resources and the innumer¬ 
able institutions of industry, together with the greatness 
of your home or interstate commerce. From this point 
of view, the material side of your civilization is almost 
beyond grasp. The difficulty of appreciating this view of 
your great country is not small to one who comes from a 
country of quieter activities and more contemplative 
methods, and the first thought is that your civilization’s 
first achievement is the multiplication of wants and ne¬ 
cessities, of cravings and luxuries, and of material means 
to questionable ends. This may be a superficial view to 
be set aside and substituted by a better, upon a better 





Impressions of America. 


27 


acquaintance. It would also seem impossible from the 
same point of view, to understand how the physical, the 
moral and the intellectual sides of civilization can keep 
pace with the activities, the demands and the luxuries of 
the material. This problem, however, belongs to you, 
and only time can solve it. But whether or not the 
essential equilibrium is now realized, or may ever be, it 
remains true that your industrial progress on all lines of 
materiality, in the arts also, and in certain sciences, and 
in inventions and other things which go to aid the energy 
and labor of man, is marvellous to see. I have learned 
also that this question does not alone propose itself to 
me, who have not had opportunities to study it suffi¬ 
ciently. It is also disturbing the thought of this nation. 
The unrest, the unequal condition apparent in industrial 
society, the growth of monopolies, the concentration of 
wealth and its many encroachments, creating antagonisms 
where there should be harmony, and prophesying dangers 
where there should be security, are factors, which if true, 
threaten that peace and prosperity which it is the wish 
of all right thinking people all over the world that you 
may always enjoy. 

In the name of India and her people, I offer the prayer 
that the evil which many of your wisest statesmen fore¬ 
see, and which vast portions of your population seem to 



28 


Impressions of America. 


fear, may never, never overtake you. If the evils and 
dangers to which I have referred do really exist, then, it 
will be the part of wisdom and humane method in the 
industrial life, and in the social life, and in the patriotic 
government, to allay apprehensions, to destroy antago¬ 
nisms, and to restore confidence by mutual concessions 
and the just application of the universal law, which you 
call the “ Golden Rule “ Do unto others as you would 
that others should do unto you.’’ 

The next impression that I shall speak of concerns the 
social state and the family life of the American people as 
it has come under my observation. In some particulars 
this impression is unfavorable, in others very grateful. 
In all thought, both in India and in America, as I can 
conceive it, the establishment of the family is at the base 
of the whole social structure, and is essential to social and 
material happiness, and should be, and I hope is, held to 
be sacred. A nation of families in the right view, must 
be (other things being equal) a happy nation, although 
that happiness may not include great material wealth 
or commercial achievements, for the home where the 
family is, is the heaven on earth if it is constituted and 
preserved within the sacred meaning of the word itself. 

But I find in this great country of yours, not unity of 
conception and practice, but great diversity, and that 




Impressions of America ; 




diversity—if my impression is correct—is a diversity of 
unhappy contradictions. I do not understand how it can 
be that home relations, which answer for family, by which 
I mean the ties and the children of our love, can be so 
easily broken. In your country when the son marries he 
leaves the paternal roof, the home in which he was born 
and reared, and separates himself from that circle, and 
establishes a different home beyond the limits of the 
old home ; he creates as it were, (if I understand it) 
a separate, a distinct home for himself. This fear of 
living in the same family for a generation is very preva¬ 
lent, I think, in this country. This feature of your social 
life is peculiar in my view and is not realized nor desired 
among us. There seems to be a dread of enlarging the 
home circle by bringing into it the wife of the son or of 
the brother, with you. Perhaps you are afraid of the 
mother-in-law, as I have heard. With us it is different. 
The home of the father of the son who marries the 
daughter of a different family, is, from that moment, the 
home of the daughter who is now the wife, and she loves 
not her husband only, but her mother-in-law, her father- 
in-law, her brother-in law—in fact, all the members of 
the family into which she is adopted or brought, and her 
rights and privileges are equally sacred and as inviolable 
in the family, as the son’s whose wife she is. In y 



30 


Impressions of America. 


country, if the husband dies leaving the wife a widow, it 
is often the case, if not always, if my impression is right, 
that she is left to provide for herself unless the estate of 
her husband is left to her and is sufficient. Perhaps, it 
is this which necessitates remarriage and the establish¬ 
ment of new ties of the same nature in a different direc¬ 
tion, and with a new mother-in-law who may be appre¬ 
ciated in the same way, so that now she is related by 
marriage to two families, and is, in our conception, a 
member of neither. You will, therefore, ask me, what is 
the difference in my country ? It is this : the daughter- 
in-law becomes a member bona fide , not legally ; per se 
not incidentally, of the family into which she marries. 
If she is left a widow she does not need to remarry in 
order to obtain the comforts and the protections of 
home, but the home in which she is, is her home, with 
all that the word implies, so long as she lives, and it is 
the duty and the sacred pleasure of the members of the 
family to provide for her, to love her and protect her 
just the same as if her husband were by her side. I do 
not mean to say that under no circumstances is remar¬ 
riage permissible. On the contrary there are certain 
classes of people and religious communities who live on 
the lowest plane of spirituality whose widows do remarry, 
but we say that the reasons for that remarriage are un- 




Impressions of America » 


3 * 


worthy and pertain entirely to that nature which we call 
“ animal.” I do not pass judgment on either of these 
modes of life at this time. What I desire to do is to 
present the contrast which will account for the unfavor¬ 
able impressions which your system has made upon me. 
It may be that your philosophers and socialists can 
present many reasons for this state of things and many 
arguments in its defense, but to the Hindoo mind, the 
basic principle of the family and the ties which bind into 
unity its several members, are violated by you, and that 
for this reason it must be impossible for you to attain the 
highest social state. 

Another thing that I have learned is that divorce is a 
common and sometimes a coveted feature in your social 
civilization. I will say that this feature also impresses 
me unfavorably. It would seem that there is a lack of 
something—you may call it wisdom, love, power of selec¬ 
tion, or what you will—lying at the bottom of this fact. 
The truth, however, must be conceded, that thousands of 
persons who marry and start out in the separate and in¬ 
dependent way of which I have spoken, apart from the 
family of the husband, soon, for some cause, grow tired 
of each other, and are separated by the strong hand of 
your legal civilization by divorce. With us, what you 
call divorce is not known, except in the lowest class of 



32 


Impressions. of America . 


society, which class is not of the Aryan origin—in other 
words, not real Hindoo. What I mean to say, with more 
explicitness, is, that Hindoo jurisprudence and sacred 
books do not provide for or recognize divorce. The 
reason of this, which I may not do more than state, is 
found in our conception of the ground and reasons for 
marriage and the family tie. These are sacred and in¬ 
violable, and they hold through all circumstances, and 
cannot be weakened nor set aside. Marriage in our view 
is spiritual as well as physical matehood. The husband 
and wife are one and indivisable in this view; they have 
not two roads, and two methods, and two destinies, and 
separate attractions, and different objects, whether of 
desire or of devotion. They are one in thought, in pur¬ 
pose, in religious devotion, in sacred relations, with a 
destiny in the true light, that is also not divided. It is, 
of course, impossible to bring before our limited view in 
this earthly state, the full and perfect relations, and the 
blissful conditions of the perfected souls of men and 
women, but the Hindoo widow is forever a wife, and 
prays every day that in that future of perfect bliss, she 
may join her husband, and believes that she will. This 
does not mean in any physical sense, but that the per¬ 
fection which is attained by the religious observances 
and soul growth of the husband shall also be hers, so 





Impressions of America. 


33 


that the unity in the marriage relations, in the spiritual in¬ 
terpretation of them, is perpetual. But we, the Jains of In¬ 
dia, also teach that in the perfect condition, soul is without 
sex, there is no man-soul or woman-soul in the sex sense, 
in that perfect state. In the perfect state recognition 
obtains and the individuality in the real sense of it is not 
lost. If you can conceive of the souls of husband and 
wife in the perfect state, looking back to the human state 
with its physical relations of sex, you may also conceive 
of ;their saying that that human condition was true, and 
just, and holy, and necessary within its horizon, but that 
those relations were means to an end, also sacred, and 
that the true relation which now we realize in the per¬ 
fect state, where sex does not enter in, is the true and 
permanent relation. 

I must also speak of the impressions that I have re¬ 
ceived in relation to the government and politics of your 
great country. I will say that as far as I have been able 
to grasp it, your theory of government is also among the 
monuments of Western civilization. I cannot command 
words to express my admiration of that theory, if I take 
the theory from the undying words of that great man, 
Abraham Lincoln, who said that “ this is a government 
of the people, for the people, and by the people.” That 
statement is too great to be discussed in one hour, or in 



34 


Impressions of America . 


one year or in many years. It is a statement that opens 
up possibilities and realizations which imply a perfect 
condition in the outcome of the human society. I, a 
Hindoo, interpret it to mean self-government in the 
highest sense. I must own to some anxiety for the future 
of the theory in the practical realization, when I consider 
the political contentions and extremes which seem to co¬ 
exist. Perhaps my view is superficial, perhaps these out¬ 
ward demonstrations and irreconcilable political antago¬ 
nisms on party lines and for party supremacy, may be 
mere excresences or breaking waves upon the bosom of 
a deep sea whose unity and unific power shall abide un¬ 
disturbed, unvexed and supreme. This is my hope. 

Finally, my brothers and sisters, with your kind in¬ 
dulgence, I will speak somewhat of my impressions re¬ 
garding the religion and the religious condition of the 
American nation. I will ask you again to consider what 
I may say as the expression of impressions which I have 
received, subject always to revision and correction, and 
in no sense spoken in a spirit of criticism. The opinion 
which I had formed from contact with Western civiliza¬ 
tion in my own country, and with missionaries and mis¬ 
sionary methods among my people, was not of a nature to 
contribute to the emotion of admiration for what may be 
called your -religion.” Upon coming to this country 




Impressions of A?nerica. 


35 


and viewing you from a higher and closer point of view, 
my first impression was in the nature, of an agreeable 
surprise, because I, as a heathen, so-called, was received 
at the great Parliament of Religions, yours included, and 
by you especially, in the spirit of that brotherly love 
which is one of the fundamental principles of the uni¬ 
versal religion. This great welcoming spirit of brotherly 
love, of absolute tolerance, of illimitable fraternity, is the 
real expression of your national religion, in my impres¬ 
sion, and differs in nothing from the spirit of my own re¬ 
ligion, and therefore, I wonder why this spirit does not 
control in all directions. The spirit is true, it is uni¬ 
versal, but its expression in dogmas and creeds and con¬ 
tending churches, seems in conflict with itself. How can 
narrowness, and bigotry, and limitations, and worldliness, 
and worship of mammon, and oppression and extortion, 
and enmity, and unbrotherly attitude and conduct, be 
the natural expressions of the universal holy spirit of 
brotherly love ? Can you tell me, since I cannot enlighten 
myself? If you say these expressions or outward signs 
mean nothing, I answer : Whence do they come ; whither 
do they tend; why do they have place; why have they 
not been banished ? If they mean nothing, they can have 
no mission, and are not the influences and children, and 
powers and reflections of that great spirit of goodness 



3$ 


Impressions of America . 


which is, love to all living beings. I do not claim su¬ 
periority, I do not arrogate to myself or to my people 
the right to judge or to criticise. But you say to me, 
you are our brother, and some of you say you are our 
elder brother, and therefore, if I am your brother (and I 
am your brother) I ask you why do you persecute, con¬ 
demn and devour one another in the sense in which one 
form of Christianity antagonizes another, and one sect of 
Christians excommunicates another, and why, in some 
instances, in your conception of missionary duty, do you 
even excommunicate me ? Only this I will say, because 
I am your brother, me you shall not excommunicate; 
my people you shall not relegate to the “ uncovenanted 11 
mercies of God I It is the spirit of your religion, as 
well as of my own, that the Supreme Being is the source 
and essence of goodness, and that all living beings are in 
a sense, the children of that Supreme Being, therefore, 
all men are brothers, therefore, the tie that binds us in 
this brotherhood is not difference, nor hate, but love; 
and what is love, my brothers and sisters? Is it a senti¬ 
ment merely ? An expression merely ? Is it only a word 
that can be interpreted in many ways or not interpreted 
at all? We say in our sacred books, “ Love is only of one 
kind, which binds together all the universe and which 




Impressions of America . 


37 


destroys all differences, without creating any quarrelsome 
opinions and jealousies and other wrong states of mind.” 

I conclude, dear brothers and sisters, by saying that 
standing on this foundation, looking into one another’s 
faces in the spirit and realization of true religion, if the 
past is glorious, the future, both for you and for Us, will 
be more glorious. We need but to become better ac¬ 
quainted with one another and with the holy truths of 
universal religion, to enter upon paths of progress and 
spirituality, which, leading Us out of the material and 
transitory, shall bring us into the perfect state where 
conflict and antagonisms and evil passions shall never 
enter. To aid in bringing about this needful condition, 
and to discover the true methods of its attainment, we 
may be missionaries to one another in a truer sense, in a 
better sense and even in a holier sense, than that word 
has ever been interpreted to mean. By recognizing the 
right relations we shall come upon the right method, and 
in the unity of the spirit, we shall have the bond of peace 
which is brotherhood, out of which shall come commu¬ 
nions, spiritual especially, which shall increase unto the 
perfect day and the perfected life, for all living beings. 







J^EAR brothers and sisters, this is the last time that 
I shall appear before you in the regular programme 
of this great gathering. Since coming among you I have 
been busy, as you know, acquainting myself with your 
methods of thought and distinctive lines of public dis¬ 
cussions on this free platform, and also in discussing in 
a limited way before select classes some of the philoso¬ 
phies of my own country. It is gratifying to me to find 
that on fair acquaintance we are not so far apart as 
probably many of you have been led to suppose. I have 
yielded to your solicitations, not without much distrust 
of my ability, to discuss with some freedom differences 
in religious life and in civilization, which mark our two 
nations. In my last public address from this platform I 
was permitted to give you in a brief manner some of the 
impressions that I had already received respecting your 
great country, its people and its institutions. I confess 
to some surprise at myself, in venturing to give those 
impressions, but you drew me on by your kindness and 




Some Mistakes Corrected. j>p 


Respectful consideration, and I could not resist the desire 
to gratify what seemed to me a reasonable proposition. 
I did not come to this country to propagate the philoso¬ 
phy of my community of the religion of my people. I 
did not deem it part of my mission to assume that role 
which distinguishes the missionaries for the most part, 
which you in your religious zeal, send to my country to 
enlighten our benighted minds. The spirit in which you 
have received my words emboldens me to take a further 
step in the line of removing obstacles in the way of U 
better understanding. In attempting this task I approach 
it in the spirit of fraternal love and will endeavor to 
present my cause in a manner to deserve at least your 
approval, if you do not fully agree with me. 

I do not forget that in a sacred sense I am your guest, 
and it would pain me, and my people also, if I should 
inadvertently utter a word to rankle in your thought. I 
have received so much from you, and am so deeply 
impressed with the fair mindedness and tolerance of the 
American people, that I will even venture to correct 
what I conceive to be grievous mistakes in the public 
estimate of my people from certain points of view. 

In seeking to correct certain mistakes, as I conceive 
them to be, I may be pardoned if incidentally I can show 
what India can give in return for your tolerance and 



40 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


noble consideration on the subjects already discussed in 
your hearing. I deem it proper to say that I have 
learned very much thus far in my intercourse with you 
that will serve me well when I come to report to my own 
people the lessons of America to India. One of those 
lessons I cannot refrain from mentioning here. It is 
this : that good and only good must come from a freer 
and fuller communion, correspondence and reciprocity, 
not in philosophy only, but in the material factors of 
civilization, between you and us. I am impelled to 
perdict that we are in the beginning of material, intel¬ 
lectual and spiritual unfoldings and relationships, in the 
spirit of brotherly recognition and love, which will do 
more for our mutual good in one decade than a cycle of 
sectarian missionary propogandism can accomplish. 

The first mistake which I desire to notice is the very 
common one that the Hindoos have no history worth 
considering prior to the Mohammedan invasion which 
began in the early part of the Eighth century of the 
Christian era, and ended in conquest one hundred and 
fifty years later. This mistake has been emphasized 
recently in certain leading magazines of America by some 
distinguished writers. What is. the truth? The truth is 
that the history of ancient India is a history, even by the 
concessions of most eminent European Oriental scholars, 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


41 


of at least 2,000 years before the birth of Christ. But in 
the Hindoo thought our history goes back thousands of 
years beyond that period. 

Western scholarship has given priority in date and 
in character to the records and monuments of Egypt 
and of Chaldea. Those records and monuments give 
simple information and are confined for the most part 
to the names of kings, the accounts of war and dyna¬ 
sties, and the builders of pyramids. These are inte¬ 
resting to scholars, but shed uncertain light, and little 
of that, on human progress and civilization. The con¬ 
trary is true in relation to Hindoo history. It does not 
abound in the records of thrones, of wars, and the inci¬ 
dents of conquests, but are connected recitals of the 
advancement and successions of civilizations, the progress 
of the human mind, and the sacred permanency of relig¬ 
ious thought and devotion. There are many periods in 
this history, carrying us back into remotest ages, not 
inscribed on stones or papyri, but abounding in hymns 
that embalm the religious thought and aspirations of the 
people, and in profound works and systems of philosophy, 
reflecting each era of civilization. This history to which 
I refer was not committed to stone or to writing of any 
kind, but was transmitted with particularity and exactness 
from generation to generation, from century to century, 





Some Mistakes Corrected. 


42 


by oral teachings and repetition. I grant you that it is 
difficult to consider this fact, but it stands indisputable, 
and since the scholars of the Western world have entered 
upon the systematic study of our history and our litera¬ 
ture, they stand confessing this fact with expressions of 
wonder and amazement. You will see, therefore, without 
enlargement upon a matter too vast to enter upon, that 
the mistake to which I have referred is a serious one and 
reflects little honor upon those who persist in it. The 
character of this mistake may be further seen when you 
consider the antiquity of the written history of Hindoo 
progress, literature, religion and civilization. It is con¬ 
ceded by some learned scholars, such as Prof. Max 
Muller, Prof. Weber and Prof. Whitney, not to mention 
others, that the Yedic hymns of India date from 1500 to 
2000 before Christ, whilst the distinguished doctor, 
Martin Haug, gives credit for the earliest of these sub¬ 
lime productions to remoter date. It is true that this 
mistake is pardonable, when we consider that it is only 
within the memory of the present generation that the 
scholarship of Western civilization has been able with 
systematic ability to trace their history with exactness of 
method. 

I have spoken of the transmission of historical events 
from generation to generation by oral tradition, from 



Some Mistakes Collected. 


43 


memory to memory, through many centuries; before 
history began to be written in the Sanskrit language, the 
oldest language in the sisterhood of languages. On this 
point I beg to quote a single paragraph from a lecture 
delivered by Prof. Muller before the University of 
Glasgow, in 1892. He says: “To those who are not 
acquainted with the powers of the human memory when 
well disciplined or rather when not systematically ruined 
as ours have been, it may seem almost incredible that so 
much of the ancient traditional literature should have 
been composed, and should have survived during so 
many centuries before it was finally consigned to writing. 
Still, we have got so far (and I beg to call your attention 
to this remarkable concession) that everybody now 
admits that the poets of the Veda did not write their 
hymns, and that Zoroaster did not leave any written docu¬ 
ments. The truth is that there is no equivalent word for 
writing or to write in the Vedas.” 

But my American brothers and sisters, the argument 
for the more ancient history of India than the date of 
the Vedas, that is to say the committal of the Vedic 
hymns to writing which is conceded to have been done 
two thousand years before the birth of Christ, will be 
found in the study and comprehension of the Vedas 
themselves. In their composition, in the fullness of 




44 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


expression, in the sublimity of thought, in the perfection 
of imaginary, and in the simplicity of detail, they show a 
lineage and point to evolutions, gradations and acquired 
perfections, that imply untold centuries of human deve¬ 
lopment in thought, in speech, in art, in religion, in 
philosophy, and in all the considerable factors of great, 
but unrecorded civilizations. Such monuments of learn¬ 
ing, both subtle and simple, suggesting a knowledge of 
nature and of man which only centuries upon centuries 
of growth can answer for, cannot be considered as 
modern, even as similar monuments of Egypt, of Greece, 
or of the Hebrew nation, but must antedate them all and 
in a sense which will yet be appreciated, prove to be 
their motherhood. In closing this part of my utterance 
to you, I will quote one more passage from the same 
distinguished authority that I have already named. Prof. 
Max Muller says: “If I were to look over the whole 
world to find out the country most richly endowed with 
all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow 
—in some parts a very paradise on earth—I should poinf 
to India. If I were asked under what sky the human 
mind has most fully developed some of the choicest 
gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problem 
of life, and has found solutions of some of them which 
well deseive the attention even of those who have studied 




Some Mistakes Corrected 


45 


Plato and Kant—I should point to India. And if I were 
to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, 
we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the 
thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic 
race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most 
wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, 
more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly 
human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and 
eternal life—again I should point to India.” 

The second mistake which I desire to correct relates 
to the origin and purpose, and supposed sacred character 
of the caste system prevailing in India. Those of you 
who have honored me by attending my private lessons 
at this place on the philosophies of India, need not be 
told that I set up no defence of the cast institution as it 
obtains there. The popular explanation of this system 
accepted by the people of the Western world I will give 
in this way : The four great divisions of caste are named 
the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Shudra, 
and their origin and meaning in this view, are these: The 
Brahmin sprang from the head of the God, and represents 
exclusive privilege of intellectual progress and learning, 
including priestly functions and religious superiority 
constituting therefore, an exclusive monopoly of right, 




46 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


privilege and enjoyment of intellectual development and 
religious cult. 

The Kshatriya sprang from the arms of the God, and 
represents the soldier element which stands for the de¬ 
fence of material and national rights, but without the 
privileges pertaining to the Brahmin. 

The Vaishya or third class .sprang, in this view of caste, 
from the loins of the God, representing wealth, com¬ 
merce, business and the activities and monopolies of 
trade and industries, or the result of industries, with still 
more limited privileges and rights pertaining to the 
classes above, namely the Brahmin and the Kshatriya. 
The fourth, or Shudra caste, sprang from the feet of the 
God, representing servitude and all menial pursuits and 
labors, with still more restricted rights and privileges, 
yet with one larger privilege, which pertains to the con¬ 
dition which the origination of this caste implies, namely, 
abject servitude. As a compensation for the loss of 
privilege and the denial of certain rights pertaining to 
knowledge and development, the myriads composing 
this class are permitted to travel in their own country 
without let or hindrance, but under the bond of ser¬ 
vitude, being the servant class of all the rest. This is 
the common interpretation and explanation of the caste 
system briefly stated, given by your writers. But it is 



Some Mistakes Corrected . 


47 


not our understanding, nor a fair statement of the truth. 
What then is that truth ? 

In the first place, the ancient Vedas give no record of 
such an institution as caste, and therefore, it is not in 
any view an integral part of our ancient religion, or of 
our philosophy. How then did it come to be instituted ? 

Whatever authority may be traced to the Vedic writ¬ 
ings on this subject will be found to be the result of in¬ 
novations, without any more authority or sanction than 
that which pride and priestly arrogance can give to per¬ 
petuate themselves, contrary to the ancient spirit and the 
true doctrine which inspire and underlie the universal 
religion, which recognizes a common fatherhood, and a 
universal brotherhood, with equal privileges and possi¬ 
bilities. It would weary you if I should attempt the 
history of this innovation and the origin of the sanctions 
which may be found in later Puranic writings. My object 
is simply to stimulate in you the spirit of independent 
and impartial investigation, well knowing that you will 
find that my statement is true, and that the institution, 
shorn of its sentimental incidents, is not an unyielding 
or cast iron factor in our civilization founded in that 
authority which we bow to with religious awe and obedi¬ 
ence. In truth, it has come to be considered more as a 
social institution rather than one sanctioned by religious 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


48 


authority. From this point of view it may be conceded 
to possess certain advantages which minimize the restric¬ 
tions of the social order, which restrictions will melt and 
disappear as education advances to universal sway. Under 
another name, if my observations are not at fault, a 
system of equal rigor and more marked distinction is 
forcing its way even in this free land of yours, born also 
of the same motherhood of pride, monopoly, and the 
centralization of wealth and power. For I find even 
here great social distinctions, and even religious exclu¬ 
siveness, lifting their banners and building their walls 
with a zeal and a pertinacity of purpose and visible re¬ 
sults, that are almost equal to the observable decay of 
the system as it is popularly believed to exist, in India. 
I will conclude my observations on this point by quoting 
a paragraph or two from a very high authority in Her 
Majesty’s India Civil Service and an Honorary Secretary 
to the Royal Society—Mr. Robert Needham Gust: * 

“ How has society dealt with caste ? I can only give 
an opinion based upon experience acquired in a solitary 
life among the people of Upper India for weeks and 
months together without any European companion. I 
never found caste an obstacle to social intercourse, nor 
did the subject ever press itself forward, and yet the 


* “ Pictures of Indian Life,” K. N. Oust. Scribner & Co. 






Some Mistakes Corrected. 


49 


population of the villages and towns visited each day, dif¬ 
fered considerably. Few villages were absolutely without 
Mahometan, none without men of the lowest caste, and 
in the thronging of an Indian crowd there must be indis¬ 
criminate contact. In my establishment there was the 
Brahman, with whom I transacted ordinary business, the 
Rajput,who carried my messages, the Khatri and Kayat, 
who engrossed my orders. Mahometan and Hindu sat 
upon the floor working side by side, in constant contact, 
and handed papers from one to the other; and, if the 
half caste Christian sat at a table to write English letters, 
it was only because the method of English correspon¬ 
dence required this distinction. My own tent was daily 
thronged by men of all castes and positions in life, and 
my visits to the male apartments of the notables was 
considered an honor, and yet of all outcastes the Euro¬ 
pean is the worst, as he asserts his right to eat both beef 
and pork. Thus, professors of different castes mingle in 
social life without any unpleasant friction : each man re¬ 
spects his neighbor; he has no wish, indeed, to inter¬ 
marry with the family of his neighbor, or share the cup 
and platter of his neighbor, but he does not consider 
himself in the least superior or inferior. 

In one sense, and in one sense only, caste may be said 
to be religious. All that remains to the non-Mahometan 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


SO 


population of the religious idea and instinct, has cen¬ 
turies ago shrunk into the notion of caste, just as in 
Europe in the Middle Ages, all that to many men re¬ 
mained of religion, was a keen sense of personal honor. 
Now, both caste and honor restrain a man’s actions 
from what is contrary to the rules of brotherhood, is dis¬ 
honorable, and often from crime, in a way, in which 
nothing else will restrain them, and in that sense caste 
and honor may be said to be religious sanctions, but in 
no other. No wise legislator would venture to do aught 
to weaken such sanctions, the existence of which marks 
a certain progress in civilization, until other higher sanc¬ 
tions have been substituted. 

With all my recollections of valued friends left behind 
me in India, whose features live in memory and whose 
portraits in some cases decorate my walls, it is amazing 
to me to hear on my return to England, that this good, 
easy going people, amiable and ignorant, tolerant and 
docile, accommodating and affectionate, is, in the opinion 
of wise and good men, “ enslaved by a custom which 
annihilates fellow feeling and eats out human sympathy, 
and makes one portion of the community slaves to the 
other.” I could multiply quotations of this kind, but it 
is not my object to aggravate this difficulty, but rather to 
compose it. I cannot see, that caste is an evil of the 




Some Mistakes Corrected. 


5i 


kind and degree, which it is imagined by many good men 
to be. In an exaggerated and self-asserting form it 
would certainly be an evil under a Hindoo system of 
government of the stiff and intolerant forms of modern 
religious creeds, but tolerance has ever been of the essence 
of the Hindoo system, and in British India the claws of 
caste have been cut by a strong and impartial govern¬ 
ment, and the social pressure of a population, made up 
of various elements which would not submit to oppres¬ 
sion. I remark that in Europe classes lie in strata 
horizontally, and that in India the separation is by 
vertical fissures. I have known men of good caste and 
social position as gentlemen, who were not ashamed to 
have in their families near relations in the grade of menial 
or cook. Now, such a state of affairs would be impos¬ 
sible in Europe, and marks the enormous divergence of 
social customs.” 

The next mistake that I must refer to concerns the 
women of my country. This mistake is many-sided and 
time will not permit me to consider it in detail. In a 
general way it may be stated, thus : 

The women of India, from time immemorial, hav$ 
been and are, the abject slaves of their husbands, without 
rights, without privileges, without education, without 
authority, and even (as I have heard said) without souls, 




Some Mistakes Mistakes. 


52 


except perhaps as they may blindly serve the whims, the 
behests and the lusts of their masters. To all this state¬ 
ment and to every particular definition that may be 
given to it, I am proud and honored to interpose a down¬ 
right denial. I do not mean by this that woman’s [ lace 
and work in India are the same as I am led to believe 
as are found in this country : whether lower or higher or 
equal, in a genuine sense, I will not attempt to decide. 
In theVedic times, as may be learned from the numerous 
hymns, many of them composed by women, a pleasing 
picture of woman’s estate may be seen. In that early 
age the father of the family was the priest, and his home 
was the temple.. The sacred flame was kindled in every 
house, and the hymns were chanted with simplicity and 
devotion by the entire family. When sacrifices were to 
be offered, religious devotions performed, prominent in 
that picture is seen the woman who is the wife and the 
mother. In those early days and down through all 
mutations, and at the present time, the most worthy 
households from every point of view are those house¬ 
holds in which grand parents, parents, sons and their 
wives, dwell together in unity and in the bonds of love, 
each doing his and her part for the comfort, instruction 
and happiness of the home, not alone in domestic indus¬ 
tries, but in the rights and ceremonies of religious devo- 



Some Mistakes Collected. 


53 


tion. I will give you a few of the prayers of the Rigveda 
pertaining to this exalted condition. 

“ Oh, ye gods, the married couple who prepare obla¬ 
tions together, who purify the Soma juice and mix it with 
milk—may they obtain food for their eating and come 
united to the sacrifices (religious service), may they 
never have to go in quest of food. They worship you 
with the best offerings, blest with youthful and adolescent 
offspring, they acquire wealth and they both attain to a 
mature age. The gods themselves covet the worship of 
such a couple who neglect not religious sacrifices and 
duties, and offer grateful services of worship and gifts to 
gods, and who embrace each other to continue their race, 
and they worship their gods.” 

Again, a beautiful picture is that of highly educated 
women who, themselves, Rishis (sages), because of their 
learning and devotion, compose hundreds of hymns and 
perform the sacred services, the same as men. In those 
days before my country knew the demands, the tenden¬ 
cies and the restrictions of other civilizations against 
women, there were no restrictions of an unwholesome 
character, nor were they kept in seclusion, denied educa¬ 
tion, or excluded from the highest positions in society. 
Wives and brides were veiled often, not through any law 
or custom imposed upon them, but in obedience to the 



54 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


modest impulses of their own hearts, but they had unre¬ 
stricted liberty to go and come within the limits of self- 
imposed propriety. Prominent among the names of 
distinguished dames whose examples and wise precepts 
are embalmed in the sweet and holy measures of many 
hymns composed by themselves, is that of Vishavavara, 
the interpretation of which name is itself a commemora¬ 
tion of her virtues and learning—which is, “the elect 
lady.” Whoever will study the composition of this 
exalted woman will be inspired to know and to keep 
inviolable the mutual relations of husband and wife. 
Indeed, in the ages to which I refer, the wife was the 
queen of the household, whose word was law to the 
members of the same, and who, like the mothers of this 
age, would arouse the household at the early dawn and 
set everyone from the oldest to the youngest to his and 
her proper task, and whose example was the bright light 
to which all eyes were turned. I do not mean to say 
that all women and maidens in that age, any more than 
now, were virtuous and true. My object is to truthfully 
set forth the foundation facts, and the dominant grace 
and pjirpose. Contemporaneous testimony before the 
days of Christ, but also now extant, of highest authority, 
prove that the women of India were noticeable for their 
modesty and chastity. Megastenes, the Greek ambas- 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


55 


sador, three hundred years before Christ, found in India 
two reasons for great admiration. The first was the 
absence of slavery, and the second the chastity of the 
women. In a previous lecture, and to my classes also, I 
have given you in some detail a true account of the 
marriage customs of my people, and the constitution of 
the Hindoo family, and will not, therefore, at this time 
enlarge in this direction. But I will describe to you in 
a short way, the sacred ceremony of marriage, leaving 
out the mere secular, social and incidental exercises. 
Among the hymns recited at that ceremony are such as 
these. 

“May the husband and the wife be well united,” 
turning to the bride the priest would say, “ Oh, maiden, 
the graceful sun had fastened thee with ties of maiden¬ 
hood ” (which means that up to this time she had lived 
free from the carnal knowledge of any man.) “We 
release thee now of these ties, we place thee with thy 
husband in a place which is the home of truth and the 
abode of righteous action.” 

These words and all others are repeated by the parents 
who give away their loved daughter to the husband. The 
hymn continues,—“ Go to your husband’s house and be 
its mistress, be the mistress of all, and exercise your 
authority over all in that house, let children be born 




Some Mistakes Corrected. 


56 


unto thee and blessings attend thee there, perform the 
duties of thy household with care, unite thy person with 
the person of this thy husband, and exercise thy authority 
in this thy house until old age.” 

Addressing the married couple, the priest and parents 
continue,—“ Oh, bridegroom and bride, do you remain 
here together, do not be separated, enjoy all proper 
food, be content to remain in your own home, and find 
and enjoy happiness in the company of your children 
and your grandchildren.” 

The bride and ^bridegroom offer this prayer—“ May 
the Lord of Creation bestow on us children and may 
Aryman (the law of life-preservation) keep us united till 
old age To the bride is then said, “ Oh, bride, enter 
with auspicious signs the home of thy husband, let thine 
eye be free from anger, minister to the happiness of thy 
husband, and be kind to all living beings, cultivate a 
cheerful mind and may thy beauty be bright; be the 
mother of heroic sons, and be devoted to the gods. May 
thou have influence over thy father-in-law, and over thy 
mother-in-law, and be as a queen over thy sister in-law 
and thy brother-in-law.’’ And lastly, the bridegroom and 
the bride say to each other—in the full realization of the 
new relations in which they stand, henceforth to proceed 
with one heart and one mind,—“ may all the gods unite 




Some Mistakes Corrected. 


57 


our hearts, may the god of maternity and the spirit of 
proper instruction and goodness, of wise and pure 
speech, unite us together.” 

This, my American brothers and sisters, in brief, is the 
marriage ceremony of the Hindoos. It is longer and 
more tedious perhaps than your short, and as it would 
seem, not over-binding ceremony which I have witnessed 
since coming to your country and also on this platform. 
In your ceremony words pass between the bride and 
bridegroom, some of which words, as you have seen, are 
conspicuous for their absence in the “Heathen” ceremony 
which I have declared to you. Your priest would say to 
the man — “ Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded 
wife, wilt thou love, honor and keep her in sickness |and 
in health, and forsaking all others cling only unto her so 
long as life shall last.” And to the bride he will say— 
“Wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband, 
wilt thou love, honor and obey him and forsaking all 
others cling only to him so long as life shall last.” To 
these propositions the man and the woman are expected 
to answer each, “I will,” But, if what I hear from you 
be the truth, this is said in many instances, with a large 
reservation. The absence of the pledge to obey the 
husband in the religious marriage ceremony of my people, 
ought of itself, to save us from certain strictures and 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


58 


unjust criticisms, and our women from consignment in 
your belief to a state of abject chattelhood, degredation, 
and groveling subserviency to their husbands. I hope 
you will understand that I do not assume to sit in judg¬ 
ment upon your institutions, nor for one moment to 
institute invidious comparisons; as a Hindoo, I honor 
womanhood throughout the world and bow in proper 
worship to those sacred qualities which constitute wife¬ 
hood and motherhood. The greatest of all honors are 
those that cluster about the name and character of 
mother and wife. 

Oh, my brothers and sisters, whatever privileges and 
rights may seem to be denied the women of your country, 
and whatever duties of a more public nature may seem 
to demand their attention and their care, let nothing be 
said or done or thought, that shall detract from the 
crown of motherhood and wifehood, the glorious lustre 
that is found only there. But this I must say, that no 
Hindoo woman in all the history—the sorrowful, sad and 
changing history of my race, — has ever sought relief from 
the holy vows of marriage in divorce. We, of India, do 
not forget that we are under the government of a woman 
—her Gracious Majesty, Victoria, Queen of Great Britain 
and Ireland and Empress of India, whose birthday and 
coronation day are national holidays, and who by our 




. Some Mistakes Corrected. 50 


people is more frequently called, not the Empress of 
India, but the mother. I will say that the designation of 
wife in India, of the Hindoo wife, is higher and grander 
than that of Empress. She is called Devi, or Goddess. 

If you can reconcile these facts and deductions to the 
mistaken notions which you have received, from what¬ 
ever sources, respecting the condition of women in my 
country, it is your task, to which I cheerfully leave you. 

In the lectures which I have had the honor to deliver 
to you in the class room, I have spoken largely concern¬ 
ing the early marriages among my people, and will not at 
this time do more than state the reasons therefor. The 
first reason is that the giving in marriage at the early age 
to which reference is made, does not imply in any case 
the consummation of marriage. The ceremony that I 
have given you, which is the real marriage, is performed 
among the Jains at the proper age of maturity, and the 
wife proceeds at once to her husband’s home, and this 
was the custom in the earlier ages, before India became 
the coveted land of the invader. The second reason is 
that the early betrothal was necessary in the Hindoo 
thought as a measure of protection, which includes time 
and the duty of education on the part of the young 
persons thus betrothed. If, between the time of the 
betrothal and the marriage ceremony, the betrothed 




6o 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


shall die, the betrothed wife may be married to another. 
The protection to which I have referred, which this early 
betrothal gives to the girls of India can be as well 
understood by you as if I were to go into a detailed 
statement, for among the perquisites and spoils of the 
invader of all times must be reckoned, not alone lootings 
of perishable possessions of the conquered, but the pos¬ 
session and ravishment of unprotected women. Indeed, 
this measure of protection has not always proved ade¬ 
quate any more than your laws of prohibition of the 
liquor traffic have always, or-may ever really, prohibit. A 
third reason may be given that womanhood is reached in 
our country at an earlier age than in your own. 

Another mistake that I must briefly notice is the 
prevalent misconception of the moral status of the 
Hindoo people at large. I cannot go into this subject 
farther than to affirm that the basis of morality, its laws 
and rules, differ in no essential respect from those that 
obtain throughout the universal world. The rites of our 
religion, the relationships obtaining throughout the whole 
social structure, both as to private and public conduct, 
answer for the highest moral character. Justice, truth, 
purity, are words meaningful to every Hindoo, sacred 
to his thought, Hot only parts of his speech, but essential 
elements in his daily devotions. 



Some Mistakes Corrected . 


61 


“ Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt 
not commit adultery, thou shalt not lie,” are command¬ 
ments with us as with you, and thou shalt practice virtue, 
good will, right conduct, not toward men only, but 
toward all living beings, are also parts of our moral code, 
which no Hindoo can forget or deny without bringing 
down upon him corresponding evils and retribution. 
These are the straight lines in which we are instructed 
and required to walk. If men grow lame and weak and 
sometimes fall by the way in India, as in America, 
we know the source of that weakness and that failure, 
and should bequeath our commisseration and helpful 
brotherly pity. But this must be said in justice to my 
people, that the statistics of crime in India, as ascer¬ 
tained by Government scrutiny, are but one-fourth in 
extent of those of England itself. 

In concluding this part of my subject, I will refer you 
to the fact which with you is familiar, that what is said 
sometimes of the moral status of the Hindoos, which is 
the outward expression of the moral law which they 
adopt, is also said of you, who are spiritualists, by some 
of your ill informed Christian brothers. The same argu¬ 
ment that you present in meeting the objection I also 
can and do adopt as my answer, since, if I should seek 
to formulate an answer it could not be more pertinent or 



62 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


more just. I find that answer in a book which I have 
considered for the first time on these grounds, and the 
author of which, well known to you, for he is on this 
platform, is not only my brother, but my friend, whom I 
have learned not only to admire but to love. The book 
is entitled “Angels’ Visits to my Farm in Florida.” The 
author’s name is “Golden Light,” but the pronunciation 
would be different. In that book I find this paragraph 
which I will now read, and in the translation of it to my 
own people, I should substitute for Spiritualism, Idin- 
dooism. The author says to the objector to Spiritualism, 
as I would say to the objector to Hindooism. 

“ I suggested that perhaps public opinion in many 
things was based on misconception, and ignorance of the 
real truth, principles and facts underlying and consti¬ 
tuting the philosophy of spiritualism. It is of the very 
first importance, in the first estimate of this philosophy 
and its adherents and advocates, to know whether or not 
its principles and teachings are in themselves moral, 
judged by the highest standards. Is the morality of this 
philosophy different from that which all pure minds 
accept, whether it be called Christian or Jewish, Moham¬ 
medan or Hindoo, Greek or Roman. 

Are there several codes? 



Some Mistakes Corrected. 


^3 


Is the essence of morality one everywhere or various, 
as men conceive it? 

Is morality a creature of rules and regulations and 
human formulations? 

Is it not rather the soul of right, or the conscience of 
right, implanted or breathed into humanity and into the 
universe by the Infinite Creator? 

What is moral law? 

Who shall define it? 

What authority shall interpret it ? 

It goes without saying that whatever it is and wherever 
it is, it is obligatory on all. But where will you search 
for it outside of yourself? 

Is it something independent of your consciousness, 
lying somewhere hidden, waiting to be discovered? 

If it is not found within you, where shall you look for 
it? 

Fichte, the German philosopher, says that “the formal 
law of morals,” is this : 

“Always act in conformity with your convictions of 
duty (obey your conscience). 

“This rule includes two others : first, try to understand 
clearly what is your duty in every matter; then, when 
you are convinced what your duty is, do it, for the sole 
reason that you are sure that it is your duty.” 




6 4 


Some Mistakes Corrected. 


Spiritualism, as I understand it, adopts and empha¬ 
sizes this law, even as Jesus did—in his sermon on the 
mount—and as all good Christians do when they truly 
interpret him. 

The criterion of morality is the conscience, not another 
man’s, but your own. 

I do not mean that one should not take counsel of 
other men’s consciences in arriving at right conclusions, 
but I assert the very contrary, that he should do so. Not 
for the purpose of lessening the sense of responsibility, 
but for the confirmation of truth and right. 

This is the common practice of mankind, and so it is 
that certain things are settled, because universal, or con¬ 
crete conscious of mankind through ages, has made them 
so.” 

Having thus noticed some of the mistakes prevalent in 
respect to my people and our religion, history and 
morality, and conscious of doing scant justice to each 
matter, and also conscious of the purpose to be just and 
true, I must now close this lecture by expressing, as I 
may, my conception of the future that awaits us in this 
world, where the thought and the conduct of men make 
and mar their future. To me the outgrowths of religions, 
civilizations and governments, are the expressions of 
human progress and development from one motherhood 




Some Mistakes Corrected . 


65 


of law, of nature, of man. We of India do not arrogate 
to ourselves superiority and authority, noting as we do 
along the ages, the rise, decline and fall, of empires and 
civilizations, to lecture you for your faults or to condemn 
you for your failures. No. We in the old home of the 
great mother of the nations, the civilizations, the philoso¬ 
phies and the religions of the wide world, would extend 
to you the mothers’ blessing, the home greeting, and 
express, not the hope only, but the firm belief, that when 
you shall have compassed all seas and all lands, and all 
methods, and have exhausted all resources and dis¬ 
coveries in literature, in art, in the sciences, and in the 
worship of God, you will by degrees, by slow, perhaps 
painful but sure progress, turn your faces and direct your 
steps toward the old home, the old mother, and your 
brothers and sisters in India, the blessed. There you 
will find the old hospitality, the old sweet life, and the 
dear old mother, unchanged in her devotion and in her 
love, capable of recognizing you all, and in her ample lap 
you shall nestle, as your progenitors did in the earlier 
times, amid the caressings and benedictions of love—love 
—love ! Better than science, better than art, better than 
power, better than wealth, because it is love which 
answers for the usefulness and right work of all these, 
and “ which passeth understanding.” 




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